Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu overcame the rustiness of a prolonged competition hiatus to achieve a straight-game win against Sung Shuo Yun from Chinese Taipei.
Meanwhile, latecomer Kiran George maneuvered through a topsy-turvy matchup with Japan’s Yushi Tanaka in the first round of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2025 badminton event at the KD Jadhav Hall on Tuesday.
Sindhu, participating in her first tournament since her marriage last December, initially had difficulty settling into her rhythm during the 51-minute match against her rival, who plays in both singles and doubles. Nonetheless, she elevated her performance when it counted, securing victories of 21-14, 22-20.
Badminton icon Sindhu wed her fiancé, Hyderabad businessman Venkata Datta Sai, in a private ceremony held in Udaipur in December. Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, 29, and Venkata Datta Sai, an executive director at Posidex Technologies, shared their engagement news on social media on December 14.
Young Kiran George, on the other hand, failed to convert three match points and saved three before winning 21-19, 14-21, 27-25 in an hour and 11 minutes during the first round of the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 event.
Celebrated men’s doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty overcame a close challenge to narrowly defeat Malaysia’s Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee in their men’s doubles round of 32 encounter. The Indian pair who won the initial game 23-21, fell in the second 19-21, but recovered to claim the crucial third game 21-16, moving on to the round of 16.
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Among other Indian in action, the mixed doubles duo of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto rallied after losing a game to overcome Chen Cheng Kuan and Hsu Yin-Hui from Chinese Taipei with scores of 8-21, 21-19, 21-17.
The fifth-seeded women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand fell to Japan’s Arisa Igarashi and Ayako Sakuramoto with scores of 21-23, 19-21 in the first round.
In a surprise outcome during the morning session, Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao triumphed over Chinese fifth seed Li Shi Feng with scores of 18-21, 21-17, 21-17. In women’s singles, Singapore’s seventh seed Yeo Jia Min saved two match points during the second game to defeat Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen with scores of 19-21, 22-20, 21-5.
